


Stay-At-Home Moms

by apocryphile



Category: West Wing
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-25
Updated: 2012-03-25
Packaged: 2017-11-02 11:51:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/368702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apocryphile/pseuds/apocryphile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh and Donna discuss childcare policy, and the political gets personal. Missing scene/post-ep for An Khe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay-At-Home Moms

**Author's Note:**

> My obsession with these two having babies and my habit of inserting thinly veiled political rants into my stories are evidently both still going strong :)

“Josh, do you have a problem with stay at home Moms?”

That’s the kind of question he’s used to having hurled at him by brunettes with attitude and all-female workplaces, but Donna’s voice is soft – she sounds concerned. He’d assumed she was still pissed at him and had been laying low in his office. He blinks, unsure how to respond, and she closes the door behind her and crosses to one of the chairs in front of his desk. 

“Ryan told me what he said to the President. I think it’s kind of brilliant – and it also sounds like something you’d come up with. And I was thinking… I mean, I’m worried that you’re making a mistake, I mean a political mistake, because of your position on the issue, which frankly, I’m a little surprised at.”

By the time she pauses for breath, her delivery is so tentative she’s almost whispering, but she’s sitting there with her back straight and her chin up, and he feels an overwhelming surge of pride. Not so long ago she’d have been assuming he was right and letting him persuade her under the guise of sharing his knowledge.

He stands, and rounds the desk, taking the second seat next to her.

“What’s your position on the issue?”

She answers with no hesitation.

“I think that being pro-choice doesn’t just mean letting a woman decide whether or not to have a baby, it’s also about all the decisions that come after that.”

His eyes widen.

“Wow.”

“What?”

“That’s a really good answer. A really, really good answer.”

She smiles.

“You’ve taught me well.”

“If you call me Obi-Wan, so help me, Donna…”

“You haven’t answered my question, Josh.”

“I know.”

“Is this something… I don’t know…” She suddenly looks worried. “Is there something I don’t know? Oh, God, I shouldn’t have asked…”

He tries to make the mental leap with her and reaches for her hand as he scrambles to cover all the bases.

“No, no, nothing like that… I don’t have an illegitimate kid somewhere…. Or issues with my mother.”

She nods quickly, and then takes a deep breath.

“Josh, you’re probably the most hard-working person I know. Well, it’s like a tie with Toby, CJ, Leo and the President.”

“And you.”

She grins, but ploughs on.

“I guess I’m worried that you’re losing sight a little bit of the people you’re working for. And unfortunately, I don’t think we’re going to meet a stay at home Mom in the hotel bar the next time our flight is delayed.”

That stings a bit, but it’s what she says next that completely floors him.

“So I thought I’d tell you about why I want to stay home with my kids, when I have them.”

He’d been expecting a lecture on women’s rights, child development, inclusiveness and Washington elitism, a lecture he knew he deserved and would have listened to. He doubts it would have changed his mind – you can’t regulate parenting, but with a bigger workforce paying more taxes you can improve the education system, giving all kids a better chance – but he would have listened and might have let her rework the memo he’s drafting. He’s not prepared for this, though.

“You want to be a stay at home Mom?”

“Since I was a little girl. It’s the only thing I’ve always known for sure I want to do.”

“Is that why…”

He trails off. There be monsters.

“Why my desire to be coupled up will always and forever drown out any small sense of self or self worth I may have? No, Josh, it’s not.”

He winces. She’s forgiven him, both in so many words and by, you know, not quitting and being nice to him for most of the three years since he said that, and he knows better than to play the PTSD card even though he can’t fathom what else could possibly have made him be so mean to her, but he wishes she didn’t remember what he said so exactly.

“Sorry.”

“It is one of the things I wonder about, when I meet a guy, what he’d be like as a father, but it’s not a deal-breaker one way or the other.”

He really wants to know what is, suddenly, and he bites back a crack about party affiliation.

“I really am sorry.”

“I know you are. And that’s why I’m trusting you to actually hear me right now.”

He nods, wordlessly, and shifts in his seat.

“Tell me.”

“I think that raising generous, thoughtful, healthy kids is an incredible thing to do, not just for oneself but for society. And it’s hard work. And it should be recognised and respected and supported, not granted as a concession because you all think women get irrationally emotional about babies.”

He opens his mouth to interrupt but decides against it, and she narrows her eyes at him before continuing. 

“If a parent believes their best contribution is in work outside the home, then that’s a choice too, and that is recognised and respected and supported and it should be. But it should be a real choice. And not just for women. To work and be able to afford childcare – or not to work and be able to afford to live.”

He nods, slowly, and shifts in his chair.

“I’d like you to write a position paper.”

Her eyes widen, and he continues before she can protest.

“I don’t know about this bill, but I think this should be considered for the State Of The Union.”

She looks aghast and he just barely manages not to laugh at her frozen expression.

“Donna, I’m not asking you to write the SOTU. Toby and his team are going to read hundreds of the things. But I think yours should be one of them.”

She takes a deep breath.

“I’d be happy to.”

“But Donna, you’ve made a good case for it being a choice. You haven’t actually told me why you want to do it.”

“I know.”

“I think you’d be amazing. Motherhood would suit you down to the ground. Rules for everyone.”

She flushes and smiles.

“I think it’s what I’m best at, looking after people. Other people have other strengths. But that’s mine. And I enjoy it.”

“You like looking after me?”

“I love—“ she breaks off and bites her lip, afraid of having gone too far. He jumps in before she can take it back.

“You have other strengths too, though. You have a great career ahead of you. You could be a role model as a working Mom.”

“I… I guess I imagine that there would be other… one other, mainly, I guess, role model. With a great career.”

And suddenly they’re not talking about policy anymore.

“Their father.”

“…Yeah.”

“You’d be OK having kids with someone who worked crazy hours?”

“If it was to make the world a better place for our kids and everyone else’s, yes.”

They stare at each other for a long moment.

“Are you plotting my banishment to the basement of the OEOB for the weekend?”

Ryan, it seems, still hasn’t learned to knock. Donna stands up in a hurry, and Josh scowls at his wayward intern, who drops a wedge of copier paper on his desk.

“Please tell me you didn’t actually make a copy of that book and waste all that—“

“It’s the report. On childcare, and the ill-effects of daycare. I thought you should know what you’re talking about next time.”

Josh holds it out to Donna but keeps a firm grip on it so that she doesn’t leave, and dismisses Ryan with a shooing motion. Once they’re alone he lets her take the report and sits back in his chair, watching her gather up the debris of his day. As she approaches the door he calls out to her.

“I love you taking care of me.”

She gives him a wide grin.

“I know. It’s good practice.”

And she turns and walks away, leaving him wondering which aspect of family life exactly she sees the hours they spend together as good practice for.


End file.
